


The Dream Quest of One Stone Haddock

by PurpleWyrm



Category: A Redtail's Dream (Webcomic), Stand Still Stay Silent, This is Jinsy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 12:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9234368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleWyrm/pseuds/PurpleWyrm
Summary: Reynir and Onni find themselves undertaking a quest in the Dream World for an oddly familiar spirit...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [helia7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/helia7/gifts).



When Reynir woke up, it was dark.

He considered this. Even in the middle of the night the sleeping quarters in the tank were never truly dark. There was the comforting glow of the furnace in the corner and even if this had burned out – something Mikkel never allowed to happen - light from outside would creep in through the door to the cabin.

It was also quiet. Far too quiet. Even when Sigrun wasn't snoring like a wood saw, five slumbering bodies (and one cat) produced a quiet symphony of breathing, shifting and muttering, which was now entirely absent.

So, darkness and silence.

Reynir waved a hand in front of his face to check if he could see anything at all. He couldn't, but after waving it around in various patterns for a while he realised it was gloved. He wiggled his toes. They were contained within boots. He hadn't been wearing gloves or boots when he went to sleep...

“I'm dreaming!” he exclaimed, then clamped his hands over his mouth in shock at how loud his voice suddenly sounded in the total silence.

He waited. Nothing happened.

“I wonder if this is one of those non-mage dreams?” he whispered to himself as he carefully got to his feet. “My dog should be here if it's not...”

He quietly slapped his hand on his thigh. “Here boy!” he whispered. There was no answering “ _voff_ ” from the darkness. He slapped his thigh a few more times. Still nothing. Bereft of any other idea he stuck a couple of fingers in his mouth and whistled.

Somewhere in the indeterminable distance a faint light sprang up.

Reynir waited. The light didn't move, or change. After a few minutes he started carefully walking towards it.

With no way to estimate the size of the light it was hard to tell just how far away it was, and Reynir reached it much sooner than he'd anticipated. It was a shimmering, silvery puddle a metre or so across, and reminded him of the mercury from the wall thermometer he'd broken when he was six.

He kneeled down for a closer look, and realised that there were _sounds_ coming from the puddle. The muffled twitter of birdsong and the sound of a rushing wind, or perhaps a quickly flowing stream.

He looked around at the darkness.

He looked at the puddle.

Carefully he extended a gloved finger and poked at it...

The world turned upside down as Reynir was thrown wildly through the air. Lights flashed on as he tumbled before landing heavily on something large and soft that made a painful “Oomph!” noise as it went down.

Reynir rolled off the object and onto his back. He'd closed his eyes in sheer terror during his fall, but from what he could now feel he was lying on grass with sunlight shining on his face. The same birds he'd heard were twittering and the rushing sound was definitely a stream.

The soft mass next to him groaned and shifted. Reynir risked opening one eye...

“Onni!” he exclaimed in surprise.

The older mage climbed to his feet, brushing grass off his clothes and starring at Reynir with a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

“I should have known _you_ were involved in this somehow!” he growled.

Reynir sat up and shook his head to clear it. He looked around. He and Onni were in the middle of a small forest clearing. A babbling brook flowed among the trees and warm sunlight fell down between the branches.

“What have you involved me in _now_?” moaned Onni.

“I don't know” Reynir replied. “I just woke up in the dark, and there was a silver puddle, and I touched it and I fell here.”

Onni grunted.

“Humph. The same thing happened to me. You haven't been trafficking with any unusual spirits of late?”

“No”

“No talking animals? No strange ghosts? You haven't eaten any unusual mushrooms?”

Reynir shook his head.

“Then this is _probably_ not your fault.” Onni walked to the edge of the clearing and peered into the trees. Reynir got to his feet and joined him.

“What is this place?”

“It appears to be the dream space of another mage. A very powerful one if they were able to pull us both from our havens and bring us here. Keep your eyes open and remain alert.”

“That's really very flattering, but I'm _much_ more powerful than any _human_ mage!” interjected a rather self-satisfied voice.

Onni and Reynir span around in surprise. Sitting on the grass was a fox - a fox that _definitely_ had not been there seconds before - that was somehow, despite it's foxy features, _grinning_ at them.

Onni yelped and shoved Reynir back so roughly that he fell to the ground with a squawk.

“WHO ARE YOU SPIRIT?” he bellowed “RETURN US TO OUR HAVENS OR FEEL MY _WRATH!_ ”

“Your _wrath_?” questioned the fox, casually licking one of its rear paws. “No offence, but your wrath wouldn't twitch a single one of my whiskers” it scratched its head vigorously. “I suppose it would be amusing to see what you can do, but I'm rather short on time. I bought you here to do a job for me you see...”

 _“Paha tumma makaa henki..._ ” Onni began, spreading his arms.

“Oh just stop it! It's not going to work.”

“ _..._ _MINÄ KARKOTTAA TEITÄ..._ ”

”Well I suppose if you _insist._ ”

The fox curled up on the ground and rested its head on its paws. Onni continued his chant. A nimbus of glowing energy appeared above the mage's head, taking on the form of a ghostly owl. As Reynir watched it became more and more detailed and more and more solid. Onni's voice rose to a crescendo and with a repeated cry of ” _MINÄ ISKEÄ SINUA!_ ” the owl took flight, screeching down at the fox on wings of flame with talons extended and its eyes flashing like lightning.

The fox twitched its tail. The owl vanished with a soft _”pop”._

Onni stared in disbelief.

”I told you it wouldn't work” said the fox, returning to its feet. ”Now if you've finished wasting both our time will you at least listen to what I have to say?”

”No!” snarled Onni. ”I.. I.. refuse to listen to your... blandishments!” he turned his back and crossed his arms.

“I don't think you quite know what that word means” commented the fox. “Well, maybe your assistant won't be quite so prejudiced.” He turned to Reynir.

“He's not my assistant!”

“Colleague then. Boyfriend. Whatever. I don't really care. You! You with the braid!”

“Um, yes?” replied Reynir, picking himself up off the ground.

“Would you like to undertake a fabulous adventure? A _quest_ even? With excitement and danger and really wild things?”

“Um....” Reynir glanced across at Onni. The older mage glared at him. “I'd probably better not.”

“Honestly. Mages these days!” The fox gnawed absently at a paw. “Things were so much easier when humans actually had some respect.” It sighed heavily. “I suppose I'll have to offer you both some kind of reward.”

“You have nothing to offer me Spirit!” growled Onni.

“Oh, so _now_ you're talking to me? What about a wish?”

“A wish?” asked Reynir.

“A wish! A guaranteed, bona-fide wish!” replied the fox. “One each!”

“No!” grunted Onni, not turning around.

“A wish...” pondered Reynir. He walked over to Onni, leaning in to avoid the fox's gaze.

“Think of what you could do with a wish!” he hissed.

“Such as?”

“You could wish Tuuri and Lalli home safely!” he paused. “And the rest of us too of course...”

Onni stood in thought for a a few seconds, then slowly turned back to the fox.

“You have the power to grant wishes?”

“I do. I have all _kinds_ of impressive powers!” confirmed the fox.

“And what is this 'quest'?”

“You'll do it?”

“I will consider what you have to say Spirit! And be quick, my patience is limited”

“All right” commented the fox. “I shall endeavour not to test your oh-so limited patience.” It cleared its throat.

“Well, you see, it just happens today that all the others are off at one of their bun eating meetings...”

“What others?” interrupted Onni

“Don't interrupt! Anyway I was going to attend, but there was a _really_ important job that needed to be done, and I was the only one important enough to do it. Because, you see, I'm _really_ important.” 

The fox looked at them expectantly.

“You were doing an important job” Reynir prompted.

“A _really_ important job” the fox continued. “I can't overstate just how important. And how important I had to be in order to do it. Anyway, the job was to look after a soul.”

“A soul?!” interrupted Onni indignantly “Whose soul?”

“Oh I don't know!” snapped the fox. “Just some soul. It's not like they're a rare commodity!”

“Maybe not for you!”

“Oh hush! So I had to look after this soul. Now I thought, because I'm _very_ smart, the best place to put the soul would be inside a needle. For safe keeping you see?”

“I see” confirmed Onni through gritted teeth.

“And _then_ I thought, because – remember - I am _very_ smart, why not put the needle in an egg?”

“Why not indeed?” Onni growled.

“Yes. And _then_ because that worked out so well I decided to put the egg inside a haddock.”

“Why a haddock?” asked Reynir.

“I had one at paw! But, just as I was getting ready to put the haddock inside a duck, it wriggled out of my grasp – as fish are wont to do you know - and slipped into that stream over there and swam away!” The fox nodded at the stream on the far side of the clearing.

“So, the soul is inside a needle, which is inside an egg, which is inside a haddock, which has escaped and needs to be found. Now I could do it myself. I could do it myself _easily_ , but I have so many important responsibilities that I can't just leave hanging, so I thought why not see if there are any friendly mages around who can go and do it for me? And here we are!” The fox grinned.

“You want us to find your haddock?” asked Onni flatly.

“Yes!”

“And how exactly are we meant to find one fish in the whole of the dream world?”

“That's the good bit!” answered the fox “I knew you were going to ask that – because I'm so smart – so I made something to help you. You! Braidy! look at your feet!”

Reynir looked down. Right in front of his boots sat a carving of a fish, made from some dark, shiny stone and about the the length of his little finger. He picked it up and examined it.

“Hold this stone haddock in your palm and it will point towards wherever the real haddock is to be found. Pretty neat hey?”

Onni spoke up before Reynir could reply.

“And if we find this haddock you will return us home and grant us each a wish?”

“Yes. Absolutely!”

“No tricks?”

“Of course not!”

“On your word?

The fox sighed in exasperation. It raised a paw.

“I, Puppy Fox, do solemnly swear on my honour and life that in return for the location and retrieval of my haddock and its enclosed soul and sundries I will return Onni the Grumpy and Reynir the Charmingly Naive to their respective Havens and grant each of them a wish, signed and sealed this whatever the heck day it is of whatever month it happens to be of whatever stupid year we're currently in. Is that good enough for you?”

Onni scowled.

“I suppose it will have to be.”

“Good! On your way then! Find my haddock! Glory and adventures await!”

Onni turned his back and strode off into the trees.

“Um...” began Reynir, watching his departing back.

“Yes?” asked the fox.

“I was wondering. You haven't seen a dog around have you? He's usually here, and I was wondering...”

The fox scowled.

“Oh. _Him_.” it scratched its ear with a hind leg. “I don't _like_ dogs. I don't like dogs in _any_ form.” It stopped scratching and gazed off absently as if recalling an unpleasant memory. Then it sneezed.

“Your dog is fine, and will be returned to you once your quest is over.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever.”

Reynir ran off to catch up with Onni.

* * *

Shortly the trees of the fox's dream space become pale and translucent and the blue sky darkened into the deep purple of night, scattered with stars. The ground fell away into a shallow sea full of boulders, wreathed with mist. Onni was standing on the shore, gingerly poking his foot at the water.

“So, what does this fish tell us?” he asked Reynir sourly.

Reynir held out his palm with the stone fish lying flat. It twitched to life and rotated, pointing out across the sea.

“I guess we have to go that way.” He pointed.

Onni sighed and reluctantly stepped out onto the water. It held his weight, apparently to his surprise. He took a step, then another, then started carefully walking. Reynir followed.

“So” Reynir asked looking around. “I was wondering, what is this place?”

“The world of dreams” Onni commented without looking back “I would have thought even you would have figured that out by now.”

“No, I mean this bit of it” Reynir gestured around. “With the water and the stars.”

“This is the Inbetween” Onni answered.

“In between what?”

“No. _The Inbetween_. The space that lies between the dream spaces created by mages, and by others. It is a wild, untamed and dangerous place of raw potential, difficult to traverse and not to be entered lightly.”

“Oh” Reynir commented. They walked on in silence for a while.

“I never seem to have any problem traversing it.”

“I have noticed” replied Onni somewhat flatly. “I suspect that your gods allow you to travel through the Inbetween more easily.” He glanced idly upwards. “Mine have more sense.”

“Oh.”

They walked on in silence. After a few minutes Reynir spotted a patch of light up ahead. He pulled out the stone fish again and laid it in his palm. It swivelled to point directly at the glowing patch.

“I think we need to go into that dream space.” He pointed it out to Onni.

“What dream space? I can't see anything where you're pointing...”

“Really? It's right there.”

“I suspect it is your gods assisting you again. Or possibly _my_ gods trying to convince me to give up on this insane mission.”

Reynir walked across to the shimmering portal. Onni scrambled behind him.

“You honestly can't see it?”

“No!”

“Hmm.” Reynir cautiously poked a finger into the gateway. Then he grabbed Onni by the wrist and stepped through.

* * *

They found themselves standing on a grassy path running through a green wood. Dappled sunlight fell between the leaves. Birds chattered in the trees and lazy bees droned among the brightest flowers Reynir had ever seen.

“This is amazing!” he exclaimed, spinning around to take it all in.

“This is the dream space of a lost soul” Onni replied severely.

“It is?” Reynir stopped spinning. “How can you tell?”

“I can feel it. Be careful here, I cannot say how the owner may react to intruders”.

They walked along the path. Reynir tried to watch for dangers but found himself distracted by the large butterflies darting between the trees. Onni maintained the scowl he'd worn ever since Reynir arrived.

After a short stroll the path opened up into a clearing containing a large pond. A man in strange clothing kneeled beside it, bailing water out with some kind of wide, flat bucket. He was humming a happy tune and to Reynir at least did not appear to be overly lost.

“Be cautious!” hissed Onni.

The man looked up.

“Oh! Hello there!” he smiled. “Please, come in – although I don't suppose I really have anywhere for you to come in to.” He resumed bailing and humming.

Onni grabbed Reynir's arm.

“He is weak and harmless” he whispered “But he is under a curse. We should go.”

“But the fish told us to come here!” Reynir objected, also in a whisper. “There must be a reason!”

He shook off Onni's arm and walked into the clearing.

“Hello” he said, waving at the man “I'm Reynir and this is Onni.”

Onni made a disgruntled face and sat down on a rock.

“Nice to meet you!” smiled the man “I'd introduce myself too but I can't recall what my name was.” He continued bailing, and now that Reynir was closer he could see that the bucket wasn't a bucket at all, but a sieve.

The man followed his gaze.

“You're wondering about the sieve aren't you?” he asked.

“Well, I was, yes...”

“It's a curse. When I died a wizard put a curse on me. I can't move on until I've emptied this pond.”

Reynir looked at the sieve, and at the pond.

“But you can't empty a pond with a sieve!” he exclaimed.

“I know” said the man. “I've become quite philosophical about it.” He hummed contentedly for a second or two.

“And anyway” he looked around conspiratorially and continued in a lower voice. “I think I've actually started to make some progress these last few centuries. I'm sure the water used to be a little higher up that rock.” He pointed to a random stone on the far side of the pool.

They both stared at the rock for a while.

“Why did the wizard curse you?” asked Reynir.

“It's been so long that I honestly can't say” replied the man “But I presume he had a good reason.” His smile faded. “I rather suspect I wasn't a terribly nice person.” He gazed off into the distance sadly.

But then his smile returned. “But, there are certainly worse places I could have ended up. It's really quite pleasant here, don't you think?” He resumed humming and bailing out the pond with the completely ineffective sieve.

Reynir thought for a few seconds.

“Wait here” he said and turned to walk back to Onni.

“No problem!” answered the man cheerily.

Reynir walked back to where Onni was sitting.

“We have to help him!” he exclaimed.

“I don't see why.” Onni replied with arms crossed. “If he was evil enough in life to deserve such a drastic punishment I don't think we have any right to intervene. He seems content with his fate.”

“But he can't even remember who he is, or what he did! And he's been here for _centuries_! How is that fair?”

“It's not. Not everything in life is fair.”

“Or in death?”

Onni sat in silence. After some seconds he closed his eyes, exhaled heavily and got to his feet.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” exclaimed Reynir.

“Don't make me regret this already.” Onni walked across the clearing to where the man was calmly scooping at the pond.

“You. Spirit.”

“Yes?” asked the man looking up.

“Are you truly sorry for the evils you committed in your life?”

“Yes. I am.” He stood up. “Or a least I'm sure I would be, if I could remember them.”

Onni nodded.

“And you are ready to move on?”

“Very much so.” He looked at the sieve in his hands. “I've been ready for... for a very long time.”

Onni raised his hands.

“ _Minä vapauttaa,_  
_Teitä tästä,_  
_Tehtävästä,_  
_Olet vapaa,_  
_Mene vapaus!_ ”

He turned to Reynir.

“It is done.”

The man started to fade away.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed. “I won't forget this! Thank you! Thank you both!” his voice faded away as he vanished completely, and the sieve fell to the ground.

Onni took a deep breath.

“We should go. This dream space will not last long without him to sustain it.”

Already the light seemed to be dimming. Reynir picked up the sieve.

“What do you want with that?” Onni asked.

“I don't know... I just feel it might be... useful”

“Suit yourself.” Onni walked back towards the Inbetween. Reynir checked the stone fish and followed him.

* * *

“So, I was thinking...”

They had been walking across the Inbetween for some time, following the guidance of the fish. Reynir had seen several dream spaces glowing in the distance, but the fish steered them away from all of them.

Onni muttered something that sounded like “ _Gods help us_.” Reynir continued.

“How is it we can talk so easily here when in the waking world your Icelandic is... well...”

“So _special_?”

“Uh... yes.”

“In the dream world we communicate directly mind to mind. We just _think_ we're speaking. You hear me speak Icelandic, and I hear you in Finnish.”

“Ah. But when you do spells...”

“ _Runo_ ”

“When you do _Runo,_ I hear them in Finnish.”

“This I cannot explain. Perhaps it is because I am then speaking directly to my gods.”

“So if I spoke to _my_ gods you'd hear it in Icelandic?”

“I really have no idea. Perhaps.”

They walked on in silence for a while.

“So what would happen if I thought of something _really_ Icelandic? Something _so_ Icelandic that there's no word for it in Finnish?”

Onni sighed.

“This is not my area of speciality, but I imagine I'd hear the Icelandic word while understanding what it means.”

Reynir thought for a second.

“Do you know what _hákarl_ is?”

Onni stopped walking and made a series of interesting coughing and spluttering noises. After a few seconds of gasping he seemed to recover his composure.

“Well I do now!” he snarled and strode off.

“Sorry!” Reynir called after him.

* * *

The stone fish guided them into another dream space.

It was a small, muddy valley. High, cloud wreathed mountains stood on all sides and a tiny, peat-stained stream burbled along at their feet. On the far side stood a ramshackle hut along with a roughly ploughed field. There were no signs of people or animals, just a thin, icy wind that worked its way through their robes and wrapped itself around them like an enthusiastic but freezing cold cat.

Reynir held up the stone fish. It swivelled unerringly towards the hut.

“Good” muttered Onni “At least we can get out of this wind.” He strode across the stream with Reynir in tow and up to the worm-eaten wooden panel that seemed to serve the hut as a door.

He had just raised his hand to knock when the door flew open to reveal a young woman with wild, frizzed up hair, dressed in what looked like a canvas sack.

“You're here!” she exclaimed with joy. “Come in! You're just in time for potatoes!”

She grabbed Onni's arm and hauled him inside. Reynir followed.

The interior of the hut was dark, cramped and smoky with a distinct smell of boiling. There was a table made of a slab of rough hewn wood with some stained cutlery lying on it, and a grey haired old woman – also dressed in a sack - stood off to one side stirring a large cauldron over an open fire.

The girl led Onni to a bench and sat down, patting the spot next to her.

“The potatoes are almost ready!” she grinned.

Onni sat, and Reynir carefully took a seat next to him.

“Are these more lost souls?” he whispered.

“I don't know _what_ they are” Onni hissed back. “Make sure not to eat or drink _anything_ ”

“Don't worry!” the girl smiled at them “We have plenty of potatoes!”

“POTATOES!” shrieked the old woman in agreement.

They sat in silence for a moment, watching her stir the cauldron. Onni cleared his throat...

“We come in quest of...”

“Potatoes!” completed the girl with glee.

“POTATOES!” contributed the old woman.

“ _Actually_ ” continued Onni “we're looking for a haddock...”

“You want to eat a haddock?” asked the girl in obvious confusion.

“POTATOES are what _WE_ eat!” shrieked the woman, waving a fist.

“ _I think we should go_ ” hissed Onni. He stood up. “Thank you for your time ladies, but we...”

“SIT DOWN AND EAT YOUR POTATOES!” shrieked the old woman, scooping small, shrivelled tubers out of the cauldron onto a cracked wooden plate. The girl leapt to her feet, grabbed the plate and set it down on the table.

“...we really have to go.” Onni completed. He pulled Reynir up and they started edging towards the door.

“EAT YOUR POTATOES!” shrieked the woman, moving towards the door and wielding her ladle like a weapon.

“Potatoes!” added the girl, grabbing a grimy but still rather sharp looking knife from the table and moving towards them.

“It's all right!” shouted Reynir, stepping front of Onni and holding out his hands placatingly. “It's all right! We're...” inspiration struck. “We're going to dig some more potatoes!”

“Potatoes?” queried the old woman.

“Yes” agreed Onni with a forced grin. “We are going to dig potatoes for your pot. To thank you for your hospitality!”

“Good!” commented the old woman. “Get potatoes! Put potatoes here!” She shoved a cracked pewter pot into Reynir's arms. “Potatoes!”

“Potatoes!” agreed Reynir backing carefully away.

“We will be back shortly with more potatoes.” confirmed Onni, carefully opening the door and backing through. Reynir followed.

“Potatoes!” chimed the woman and girl, together.

Onni carefully closed the door. He looked at Reynir.

“Run”

They ran pell-mell across the valley and didn't stop until the mountains faded back into the starlit expanse of the Inbetween.

“What _were_ they?” asked Reynir between puffs.

“I honestly have no idea” replied Onni. “But I have a sudden desire to never see a potato again in my entire life.”

* * *

Onni and Reynir continued to walk across the ocean of the Inbetween

“Onni...” Reynir began.

“Yes?” Onni sighed.

“What do you think the fox actually _is?_ ”

Onni pondered for a moment.

“A spirit of some kind. A powerful one if it really has put a soul inside of a fish.”

“Have you met any other spirits like that?”

“No, but I have heard of them.”

“Mmm. What do you think it meant about eating buns?”

Onni let out an exasperated grunt.

“I think that foxes eating buns is the last thing we should currently be worried about!”

“...okay”

* * *

Without warning they found themselves standing on a boggy plain. A few scraggly bushes were scattered around and the the sky was covered by low cloud, iron grey and threatening.

“What happened!?” asked Reynir

“I don't know...”

Reynir held out the stone fish. It sat lifeless on his hand. He shook it around a bit. Nothing.

“Why isn't it working?” he asked.

“I do not think we are meant to be here” replied Onni. He gazed around at the misty horizon. “I do not have a good feeling about this place.”

“What should we do?”

“We walk,” Onni declared “and we keep walking until we find our way back to the Inbetween.” He started off in a seemingly random direction, and Reynir followed.

The plain stretched onwards, rolling up and down slightly. Occasionally they came across a dry stream bed in a shallow gully or a pile of stones. There were no signs of birds or animals and the dull light filtering through the heavy grey clouds was changeless.

Reynir tried scanning the horizon for any sign of the Inbetween, but found after a while that his eyes started to hurt. So instead he gazed down at his feet, pacing out one step after another.

“What could create a place like this?” he eventually asked Onni.

Onni made no reply.

Reynir looked up. Onni was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the eye-straining horizon. While he had been studying his feet a fog had rolled in and he couldn't see more than a dozen metres in any direction.

“Onni?” he called quietly. Then more loudly “Onni!”.

No reply came.

He held out the stone fish again. It remained dead in his palm.

Reynir considered his options. He could stay where he was and wait for Onni – who was surely looking for him – to turn up. He could keep on walking and try to find his way to the Inbetween by himself and hope Onni would do the same. He could retrace his steps and see if he could find Onni that way. Yes, that seemed the most sensible thing to do.

He turned around and began determinately walking in what he was pretty sure the was the direction he'd come from.

After a few minutes he wasn't so sure any more. He'd passed a large pile of rocks not long before the fog appeared, and he was certain he should have reached it again by now.

“I wish I had my dog” he muttered to himself.

Just as he was about to give up and plonk down onto the turf he spotted a hazy figure through the fog.

“Onni!” he called in relief “Onni! Over here!” He ran towards the figure, but quickly realised that he'd misjudged the distance. The figure was further away than he'd thought, and consequently rather larger than a person had any right to be. He slowed down as he got near and realised it was a large, upright stone, set into the ground.

As he walked around it he perceived another, similar stone raised up a few metres away, and another beyond that. He walked across towards them, spotting more stones as he went. It wasn't long before he realised they were set in a circle.

He was contemplating this when a strange smell became apparent. A smell of damp, and darkness with a musky undertone as of something dead that had been left to rot in a sea cave. There was a scraping sound, as of scales dragging over stone, and a hissing voice spoke from somewhere in the fog.

“Greetings young mage!” The dragging sound grew closer. “What brings you to this place?”

Reynir backed up against the nearest stone.

“Oh... I was lost...”

“Many think they are lost when they have actually found exactly what they require” replied the voice. “Perhaps it is fate that has brought you to me?”

“Um, maybe?”

The dragging and slithering came closer.

“I can provide you with many things young mage” it hissed “Power. Riches. The love of women – or that of men...”

Reynir swallowed.

“Well, that all sounds very nice” he managed “But what I'm actually looking for is a haddock.”

The slithering stopped.

“A... a haddock?”

“Yes, we - that is my friend and I, he's around here somewhere – are just looking for a haddock. You haven't seen one have you?”

There was silence for a few seconds.

“I... a... I... uh... no, I haven't seen... a haddock...”

“Oh” said Reynir. “Well, thank you anyway!” He stepped away from the stone and started backing out of the circle.

“Wait!” called the voice in what sounded like a slightly desperate tone. “Are you _sure_ you don't want some riches?”

“Oh, no.” replied Reynir. “Thank you for the offer but I honestly wouldn't know what to do with them!”

“Oh...”

“Thank you though!”

“Oh... um... thank you too. I suppose...”

The voice faded away and the fog began to clear. The stone circle became visible, then Onni, standing just a few stones away and looking rather disheveled with his hood somewhat singed and sitting at an odd angle. He spotted Reynir and ran over.

“Reynir!” he puffed “You're alive!” he leaned over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath then looked up. “How did you defeat the serpent?”

“The serpent? Oh! Is _that_ what that was?”

“Yes! A terrible creature of darkness! With all my skill I was barely able to repel it!”

“Really? I thought it seemed kind of nice...”

“ _Nice?!_ ”

“Well, it was a bit scary, but it was offering me all kinds of nice things! Although it didn't know where the haddock was.”

“ _You asked it about the haddock!?_ ”

“Of course. That's what we're here for isn't it?”

Onni stared at him blankly for several seconds.

“I know not what your ancestors did to gain the favour of your gods but it must have been something... _vitun_ impressive!” He turned his back, walked a few steps and gazed at the horizon.

Reynir pulled the stone fish from his pocket and laid it in his palm. It swiveled around, pointing at a gap between two low hills on the horizon.

“Hey! The fish is working again!”

Onni glanced over, then set off towards the hills. Reynir slipped the fish back into his pocket and was just about to follow when he noticed something on the ground. It was a patch of dried snakeskin with a few large black scales attached. He grabbed it, slipped it in with the fish and ran off to catch up with Onni.

* * *

“Can I ask another question?” Asked Reynir after they had been following the fish's directions across the Inbetween for some time.

“I don't see how I can stop you.”

“Everyone dreams, right?”

“I believe so”

“And there's only one dream world?”

“That is my understanding”

“So how is it that mages can move around and visit other people's dream spaces and things, but normal people can't and just have strange dreams about crazy things?”

Onni stopped and turned to him.

“Think of the dream world as being like a pond. Non-mages are like leaves floating on the surface, being blown back and forth by the wind.”

“All right.”

“We mages however are like fish that can swim from the surface to the depths and back as we will.”

Reynir considered this.

“So... couldn't we grab a leaf in our mouths and carry it with us?”

Onni sighed.

“It is only a metaphor. Please do not overburden it.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“And stop apologising. It's annoying.”

* * *

It wasn't long before the stone fish guided them into another dream space. The mist faded away to reveal a night time landscape of grassy fields separated by thick green hedges. A ramshackle, barn-like building stood in the field they found themselves in, with the sounds of music, laughter and general celebration echoing out of it.

Onni grabbed Reynir's arm.

“This is a non-mage's dream scape!”

“A non-mage's dream scape?” queried Reynir. “But I thought you said normal people were leaves and we're fish and leaves can't go where the fish are and fish can't go where the leaves are?”

Onni rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

“It was an inexact metaphor. One I'm increasingly regretting making.”

“Oh.”

“Sometimes, the dreams of mages and non-mages can cross over. Such places are inherently unstable and events unpredictable.” He looked around warily “Stay close to me and trust nothing!”

Reynir pulled out the stone fish. It pointed directly at the barn.

“I guess we need to go inside” he informed Onni.

Onni looked at the fish, looked at the barn, then looked at the fish again.

“Are you sure?”

Reynir poked at the fish. It wobbled a bit but rotated firmly back.

Onni scowled.

“So be it. But exercise extreme caution. Anything can happen in a place like this.”

They walked across the field and into the barn.

* * *

The interior of the building was dark and smoky. A bar sat to one side and various odd looking individuals wearing a strange mix of clothing both old-world and new – many concealing their faces behind animal masks and waving oak boughs covered in green foliage - were singing along with a pair of scruffy looking musicians seated on a raised dais. A gigantic dog sat quietly in the corner and a large, leafy tree – for some reason mounted on wheels – stood in the centre of the room. A sinister robed figure in a goat mask was helpfully pointing out the song lyrics on a large sheet hanging on the wall. At least half of the words were nonsense, but overall import of the song was embarrassingly explicit.

At the bar a man with arms at least three times the normal length was engaged in a heated argument about the correct nomenclature of drinking vessels.

“Are dreams always this _weird_?” hissed Reynir.

“Yes” replied Onni, ducking to avoid a wild swing of the long-armed man's elbow.

“So what do we do now?”

“I suppose we should ask if anyone has seen the haddock” Onni looked around “Although I doubt any of these dream figments have the capability to provide useful answers.”

He turned to the nearest figure, a damp looking man wearing a daisy mask “You. Have you seen a haddock?”

“I really shouldn't drink” explained the man “I'm on medication for my back!” He wandered off into the crowd.

“You see?”

Reynir looked around. “I'll start at the bar” he suggested “and you start over by the stage”

“Very well” grumbled Onni, and walked off, ducking just in time to dodge a chubby, be-stockinged leg that emerged from the tree and tried to kick him in the head.

Reynir nervously approached the long armed man sitting at the bar. The cups verses mugs argument appeared to have subsided and he was sipping from a glass full of some kind of thick, creamy liquid.

Reynir cleared his throat.

“Have you seen a haddock recently?” He smiled nervously.

“A haddock?!” the long armed man put down his drink. “Why if it's a haddock you're wanting you'll need the horn of Bodockstoom!”

“Uh.. Okay. Well where...”

“There's nothing like the horn of Bodockstoom for haddock!” the man continued. The surrounding drinkers nodded and grunted in agreement.

“Well, _actually_ ” interrupted a man with flyaway hair and a fancy moustache seated to the other side of Reynir “For fish you're better off with a Nugwitt hunting drum.”

The drinkers, swayed by this new suggestion, nodded and grunted.

“Oh, well if I could borrow...”

“A haddock is a member of the family Gadidae along with cod, whiting and pollock!” exclaimed the long-armed man. “I grant you, for most fish the Nugwitt hunting drum may indeed be an adequate lure, but for Gadidea and related Gadiformes the horn of Bodockstoom is required!”

The drinkers nodded and muttered. A few clapped politely. The moustached man looked indignant.

“Well what about burbot?”

More nods and applause.

“The burbot is of the family Lotidae, and while it may physically resemble the cod, pollock or haddock, it is therefore not especially attracted to the horn of Bodockstoom!” exclaimed the long armed man triumphantly.

Cries of “Here here!” and “Well said!” erupted from the drinkers as the the moustached man turned back to his drink in defeat. The long armed man clicked his tongue and issued a self-satisfied “Hmmm.”

“Sooooo...” began Reynir. “This horn of... buttocks doom?”

“The horn of Bodockstoom!” the long-armed man corrected.

“Yes, Bodockstoom.... Where could I, maybe, find it?”

“Right here!” said the man, stretching one of his ridiculously overextended limbs across the bar and into the shadows behind, pulling out a curved brass horn engraved with intricate detailing.

“Oh!” exclaimed Reynir in surprise. “Can I borrow it? I'll bring it back, I promise!”

“No.” The man placed it back behind the bar. Up on the stage a couple of elderly men on a sofa finished rambling about a bed and breakfast, and were replaced by a bearded man with a guitar who started singing about badgers.

“Please? It's really important!”

The long armed man considered this request.

“You may have it” he eventually stated archly “In exchange for one suber nut.”

“Thank you!” exclaimed Reynir, then paused. “But... um... where can I find a suber nut?”

“On a suber tree of course!”

The drinkers nodded and muttered.

“And... where do I find a suber tree?”

“No suber tree has grown on the island since the Phew of 233” said the man.

“Remarkable year, 233!” commented one of the drinkers.

“Oh.” Reynir drooped.

“To grow a suber tree” the man continued “Bury the scale of a serpent in a hole no deeper than three footswidths on a night of the glibbering moon...”

“ _Four_ footswidths!” the moustached man piped up “On a night of the _waxy_ moon!” The long armed man clicked his tongue at him until he looked away.

“Well watered and with appropriate prayers to the Permed Owl it will grow into a fine suber tree.”

Reynir pawed frantically through his pockets.

“Scales like this?” He held out the piece of snakeskin with the scales dangling off it.

The drinkers gasped. The long armed man gazed at the skin in wonder.

“By the nose-stone of Brownlap! Serpent scales!”

“Yours in exchange for the horn” Reynir suggested.

“Yes! Yes! By all means!” The man reached behind the bar and produced the horn again “Take it! Take it!” He shoved the horn into Reynir's arms, snatched away the the skin and began waving it in the face of the moustached man while clicking his tongue.

Reynir backed away.

Once he found a relatively quiet corner he pulled out the stone fish. It rotated in his palm to point to the door. He peered across the room and was able to catch Onni's eye.

Onni weaved his way over.

“Can we leave now?” he asked. “These people keep throwing twigs at me.”

* * *

“I don't think this will work”

The stone fish had guided them back out into the Inbetween, to a place where the boulders fell away, leaving a wide expanse of deep black water. The northern lights played among the stars like the flashing of spear points, or snow kicked up by a fox's tail.

“Why not?”

Onni scowled.

“You're going to blow a horn you got from some dream figment in the hope that it magically attracts the haddock, which I am somehow going to catch with this sieve and potato pot.”

“Well, yes” conceded Reynir “It's probably not the best plan ever, but can you think of a better one?”

Onni pondered.

“No.” he sighed heavily “Blow the damned horn.”

Reynir raised the horn of Bodockstoom to his lips and blew. A loud _BLAAAART_ sound echoed across the Inbetween.

Nothing happened.

“Maybe I blew it wrong?” Reynir suggested sheepishly.

“It's more likely that this whole...” Onni began but was interrupted by Reynir pointing.

“ _LOOK!_ ”

A small silvery spark was bouncing across the water towards them. As it came closer it resolved into the shape of a fish, leaping from the dark water in a series of arcs, not unlike a stone skimming across a pond.

Onni fumbled with the pot and sieve.

“Quick!” yelped Reynir “It's coming!”

“I know!” Onni ran to intercept the fish's path.

Catch it! Catch it!”

“I'm _trying!_ ”

Onni threw himself at the speeding fish. There was a splash, a clanging sound, and some inventive Finnish swearing. Reynir ran over.

Onni got to his feet. He was holding the sieve over the pot like a lid. Inside, the haddock thrashed around wildly.

“You did it!” cheered Reynir, jumping and throwing a fist in the air.

“Yes” panted Onni. “So what do we do now?”

“Now you get sent home!” said the fox.

With no warning or noticeable transition they were standing back in the forest clearing by the burbling stream. The pot containing the still struggling haddock sat on the turf, topped with the sieve and the pleased looking fox.

“Well done! I _knew_ you had it in you!” It scratched at its ear thoughtfully. “Or at least I _thought_ you did. Probably.”

“We have fulfilled our part of the bargain, Spirit” growled Onni. “Now it is time for you to fulfil yours.”

“Yes, send you back to your havens, safe and sound! No problem, I'll get on that right away...”

“The wishes, Fox!” Snarled Onni.

“Oh. I was kind of hoping you'd forgotten about that bit.” The fox sighed. “Very well.”

It looked down into the pot. “Quiet you!” The haddock stopped struggling and the fox jumped clear landing at Onni and Reynir's feet.

“What do you wish for, Onni the perpetually irritating?”

Onni ignored this.

“I want my sister and my cousin safe at home when I wake up!”

“That is a very fine wish” commented the fox. It turned to Reynir “And you? Reynir the infuriatingly optimistic?”

“I want the same! I mean, I want everyone to be safe at home! Everyone in the expedition I mean! All home, all safe, and all happy!“

“Another very fine wish. Well, thank you for your help. I'm sure we won't meet again.” The fox turned its back and started walking across the clearing.

The dream world started to fade away. As Reynir began swimming towards consciousness he heard Onni...

“And my sister and cousin will be there when I wake up?”

“Hmm? I honestly have no idea...”

“ _What!?_ You promised!”

“I promised to _grant_ you each a wish. I never said anything about making them come true!”

“ _WHAT!?_ ”

“You can't go around willy-nilly making wishes come true! Think of the paperwork!”

Reynir was quite glad to wake up before Onni could form a reply.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2016-2017 Silent Night Exchange, with the prompt...  
>  **Discovering the Dreamworld**  
>   
>  _I would love to see Reynir drag Onni out of his safe place to explore some unknown corners of the Dreamworld. I simply love the two of them interacting! I’m also curious of other parts of the Dreamworld. It can be scary or angsty, but please, don’t make your art/fic too depressing. Lalli might (willingly or unwillingly) join the adventuring mages._
> 
> The story doesn't _exactly_ work out that way (it ran off on it's own) but I hope it's still acceptable!
> 
> Also, I couldn't write a Runo to save my life :)
> 
> ==LATER==  
> Now my Identity has been revealed, here's some information on the influences and crossovers. The man with the sieve is all my own work, but is inspired by stories in folklore of spirits being punished by being assigned to impossible tasks - in particular the story of Cornwall's Jan Tregeagle. The potato bit is inspired by a very stupid scene in the very stupid movie _Deathstalker 3: The Warriors from Hell_. You should be able to find it by Googling one of the lines I outright stole - "potatoes are what we eat!". I did take my potato eating wild women in a much more sinister direction though. The non-mage dream is stolen wholesale from the bizarre British TV series _This is Jinsy_ , specifically the season two episode _Nightly Bye_ where the islanders gather to celebrate the pagan festival of Nacken. If you want to hear the embarrassingly explicit nonsense song, or an argument about drinking vessels that is where to find them. Finally, the title is a nod to H.P.Lovecraft's novel _The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath_ \- but I'm sure everyone noticed that right away ;)


End file.
